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Posts tagged as “Gregory Pettys”

Wreck of the “Onondaga”

The navigation markers on the Mystic River in Connecticut appear like apparitions out of the thick fog. They’re the only indication of where we’re going and where the channel is. The brightly colored screen of the chartplotter shows our position and heading. Fog has probably…

Boatyard Blues

There was a time when I loved to roam around boatyards. Back then I was always keeping an eye out for the boat of my dreams. Perhaps an old Atkin cutter or Friendship sloop that somebody left behind. Of course, it would have a for-sale…

I Was Green As The Jungle

I jumped in the air, throwing the sheet off, almost knocking over the lantern that cast a dim light on the interior of the jungle hut. My friend, Captain Bill, and I had been trying to sleep despite the storm, the heat, and the mosquitoes.…

Captured By Pirates

The period from 1630 to 1730 is considered the golden age of piracy and Rhode Island was a major haven for buccaneers. The wars between England, Holland, and France gave rise to privateers who were licensed by their respective governments to raid enemy shipping. This…

He Sailed With Captain Cook

Captain James Cook is considered the greatest British explorer of all time. In three voyages of discovery, starting in 1768, Cook sailed thousands of miles across largely uncharted areas of the globe. He mapped lands from New Zealand to Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean, surveyed…

A Passion for Stripers

Bill Sisson grew up along the shore in Watch Hill and describes himself as, “one of a small group of gangly, feral boys who spent hours at the Watch Hill Lighthouse scouring the low-tide rocks for lost fishing gear, terrifying both fish and one another…

New York’s Worst Maritime Disaster

New York’s worst maritime disaster and the nation’s second deadliest maritime didn’t happen off the coast in the Atlantic Ocean or Long Island Sound but in the East River less than a few hundred feet from shore.On June 15, 1904, crowds of happy people, mostly…

Beware of the Kraken

Sometimes things happen that seem inexplicable and the other day one of those things happened to me. That morning I recalled a story I’d read years before about three fishermen that had been attacked by a giant squid, also known as a Kraken. Later that…